32:44.50N 16:43.17W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Fri 19 Oct 2012 10:04
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"Madeira - 19th October"
It is now Friday and we are still in Madeira, no
longer the warm sunny island of paradise!
The weather has been dreadful for the past few days
and it doesn't look as if we shall be able to leave until Sunday at the
earliest. We have spent two days sailing on the mooring with heavy
downpours of rain and gale force winds, creaking ropes, squealing fenders and
jerks as the ropes take the sudden impact of the surge of water. This mornings
glance at the grib file, showed a storm in the north Atlantic drifting
south but breaking up, so although there may be a lull in the wind for a
while, there is more to come with the wind then in the wrong direction for us to
go south.
There is quite a fleet of cruisers in the marina at
the moment all wanting to go south but held up by the weather.
Some boats are joining the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) and need to be in
the Canaries by a certain date to have their boats checked and be ready for the
start of the race, so they are feeling a little anxious.
Someone has organised a pontoon party for tonight,
to lift the spirits of us forlorn sailors. I am sure there
will be a lot of discussions on who is going when, how big the seas will
be etc etc. The Marina is kindly supplying chilled white wine and
participants will bring their own snacks and drinks to share. We have a
clash of events as our sailmaker has invited us to dinner at his house
this evening. We will no doubt manage a pre-dinner glass of chilled white
wine before our carriage arrives to whisk us off
to dinner!
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